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  “You and Cierra will make adorable babies.”

  Cierra blinked. “How do you know?”

  Ahket stepped over and put his arms around Cierra. “It is visible. Your glow has changed.”

  Sebach smiled. “I am glad you came together on your own. Forcing you would not have been pleasant.”

  Ahket narrowed his eyes. “Why do you insist on having a native-born being as your Avatar?”

  Sebach looked sad again. “I want to be part of them from the moment they draw breath. I will not be their mother, but I will be there and they will know me.”

  Cierra sighed and looked out at the piles of sand and grime. “I wonder how long it will take to clear this, and where will we get food?”

  Sebach smiled. “It will only be fruits and vegetables, but I will keep you in food while you are with me. As for the other…”

  A wind began to blow against the thick windows and the dirt lifted and was swept away in thin layers.

  Cierra smirked, “I wish I could sweep like that.”

  Sebach smiled and waved her hand toward an open hallway. “The garden is there and the plumbing is working. You have all the comforts of home without meat, but there are several mushrooms that have similar enzymes. Welcome home.”

  Six hours later, they had found the kitchen, made a fire with the fuel of the dried bracken and chunks of coal, and settled in with fresh tea while the vegetable stew cooked.

  Ahket lifted her hand and kissed it. “Not the start I wanted for us, but it isn’t horrible.”

  Cierra looked at him and burst out laughing. “It is better than facing all of your relatives the moment that I landed. Aside from my carving up my feet, which is no longer an issue, I am actually having a nice time. Where did Sebach go?”

  He smiled and took her teacup out of her hand. “She mentioned that she was going to check on the colony. I am guessing that they won’t even know that she is there.”

  She looked into his lovely eyes and smiled. “What do you have in mind?”

  He kissed her neck, drawing his tongue across her skin. “I haven’t thanked you for your generosity at choosing me as your mate.”

  She sighed and tilted her head. “No, I don’t believe you have.”

  “That is horribly remiss of me.” He mumbled it against her skin as he moved up and kissed her lips.

  She surrendered to the kiss and muttered, “What about the stew?”

  “We can tangle here and keep an eye on dinner.”

  She looked around and realized that for all intents and purposes, they were the only two people for a hundred miles.

  His fingers worked at her sash and worked her tunic up until he could cup her breast. It was only fair. She had started things the first time; they had come together during the countdown to banishment, but it had been desperation. This was relief and celebration. She looked forward to experiencing the difference.

  Wrestling free of her clothing took precious moments and waiting for him to do the same took an eternity.

  She welcomed him into her arms on the bed made of their clothing, and he tasted her from her lips to her ankles and every inch in between.

  Cierra knew that many folks enjoyed simply receiving attentions, but she had never been one to wait when she knew that something was for her, and Urion Ahket was hers.

  She pulled at his shoulders until he moved over her, and when he slid into her, it was pure relief to move against him, rising to meet the shaft thrusting inside her.

  He tangled her fingers with his and pressed her arms above her head. Cierra raised her mouth to his as they moved together, rocking and twisting faster and faster until she clenched her hands against his and moaned into his mouth.

  He shuddered, and his own hands gripped hers tight. He moaned against her lips and they both chuckled softly.

  Cierra smiled. “That was fun.”

  He grinned and lowered his weight onto her, his belly pressing against hers. “Fun? Is that all?”

  “You will just have to do better in the future. Perhaps something with a bed?”

  She could hear the bubbling behind him.

  “Stir the stew, Ahket.”

  He kissed her quickly. “I believe you can call me Urion now.”

  She chuckled and felt bereft as he rose from her still-damp skin to attend to their meal. “I think Ahket will be the default.”

  She leaned up on her elbows. “What do you think of our child eventually becoming the Avatar?”

  “If it is their choice and they do it freely, I say they should take the power as it comes. If they do not wish to host Sebach, I hope that they will have many brothers and sisters for Sebach to court.”

  She sat up and put her head on her knees with her arms around her legs. “Why do you think I will be able to have more than one? Your people have small families from what you have told me.”

  “True, but my species was banished after trying to kill yours because you could out breed us and with us, in only a few generations. I have hopes that you will carry on the potential of your species.”

  She sighed. “Will the N’ga-Sebach mix with our bloodline, do you think? Or will our children be alone?”

  “If they cannot have local mates, I am sure that we can press the great ship into service once again.” He finished stirring the stew and settled next to her.

  “Cierra, stop worrying about children who have not yet been born. Sebach seems to want to help us, and my folk have learned their lesson when it comes to dealing with the Avatar. If she orders them to take our kin to mate, they will.”

  She leaned against him, and he took her in his arms, cuddling her with one hand on her belly.

  “It sounds so romantic. I suppose you are right. By the way, Sebach is returning. We might want to get dressed.” She smiled and kissed him quickly.

  When the Avatar returned, the food was ready and they were dressed. It was the start of a strange arrangement, and Cierra enjoyed it. She had always wanted a sister.

  Chapter Nine

  When the three months was up, they were wearing N’ga formalwear that Sebach had brought out of storage, and they flew to the colony with the Avatar holding their hands.

  Cierra had never felt so queasy with just a bit of air travel.

  They hadn’t sent the retrieval ship. Sebach had told them it wasn’t necessary. Cierra could only imagine how shocked the colonists had been to find out that the Avatar was still alive, sort of.

  When they landed, Ahket took her protectively and wrapped his arm around her as they approached the large gathering of the women and men of the N’ga-Sebach.

  Sapya gave them each a hug and smiled at how healthy and strong they seemed.

  “She needs to be strong. She is carrying my next Avatar.” Sebach smiled tightly, informing everyone that Cierra was pregnant.

  Urion’s mother and father stepped forward and embraced him before they turned to her. “Welcome, daughter. Sebach has told us that you have chosen our son and you will take him without dowry.”

  Cierra blinked. “I hadn’t thought of it like that. I already have him. That is for sure.”

  A woman in the back gasped in horror.

  Cierra looked toward the woman who had tried to put dibs on Urion. “Isn’t it wonderful that, through Sebach’s efforts, he and I found each other?”

  The woman looked from her to the Avatar, and Sebach was bristling with power. She backed down immediately.

  Urion grinned down at Cierra, and she slid her arm around his back.

  His mother whispered, “Son, are you sure that the child is yours?”

  Cierra blinked at that one.

  “I was her first, Mother, so, yes. She was not pregnant in the scans done on the ship. Now she is.”

  His mother held up her hands. “I just wanted to make sure, son. Her ways might not be our ways.”

  The sky opened, and a gentle rain came down, dampening everyone. They moved the discussion underground, and Sebach took control of the meeting, ne
gotiating a return to the great cities now that she had removed the disguise from their minds.

  Cierra tried to get used to living in the colony, she really did, but with every passing week, she grew more and more unhappy.

  Urion came into their quarters one night, and he wrapped his arms around her. “What is it?”

  “I really don’t like it here. They are always touching me, caressing my hair, and they won’t let me do anything. I am not wounded, I am just pregnant. It will pass. I just need to get into a schedule, and I am not even allowed to do that.” She grumbled and tears came to her eyes.

  He stroked her back. “I have a solution. You might actually enjoy it.”

  She sniffled and looked up. “What?”

  “Sebach has offered us the use of her city and tower as long as we wish it. The colony has been looking for a new base to keep the majority of their shuttles, so the city is the best place for them. We can live there and call for a medic when the baby comes.”

  “You wouldn’t mind living there with me?”

  He smiled. “This time, we would have all the comforts of home and you would be able to assist us in our trade endeavours via com link. I would work with the botanists and those who wished to come to the city could come. It would be a far more controlled situation for you.”

  She stroked his chest. “Oh dear. You figured out that I am a control freak?”

  He gave an exaggerated look around their quarters with everything neatly stowed and folded. “I have that feeling now and then.”

  She sighed. “Would your family come with us?”

  “They are already packed. Come on. New world, new life, new city.” He lifted her chin on two knuckles and kissed her sweetly.

  “Good. I am already packed. The bags are in the bedroom.”

  He grinned. “You knew what I was going to say?”

  “Sebach offered it a month ago. I have packed the bags every day just in case.” She blushed and smiled.

  “Then, what are we waiting for? You can sleep and get some rest instead of tossing and turning.”

  She grinned and he got the bags.

  The rest of the pregnancy was uneventful, and the birth was a normal procedure in which the father-to-be knew just what to do and the Avatar of the world held Cierra’s hand.

  They had grown closer in the intervening time, and there was no longer a threat in Sebach’s need for a new Avatar. It was incredibly trying for Sebach to have to use the body of Seera when the soul that had made them such a good match was gone.

  Cierra breathed, pushed, and after twelve hours of labour, the N’ga-Sebach midwife caught the little girl and examined her swiftly before cutting the cord and wrapping her up.

  “Strong, healthy and with a bright set of lungs on her. Her skin tone should settle in a few days, and you will know who she takes after at that point.”

  Cierra took her daughter and blinked in surprise. A fuzzy shock of blue hair stuck out on her slightly pointed skull. Her eyes were vivid purple and there was a pink tinge to her rainbow-coloured skin. She was made of cuddly pink quartz.

  Sebach looked at her and smiled. “She is beautiful.”

  Urion was kneeling next to the bed, and he stroked the soft head of his little girl. He was grinning foolishly and looking into the baby’s eyes. “A little girl.”

  Cierra sighed happily. “A little girl.”

  Urion helped the midwife to attend to her, and when she was wrapped and ready for visitors, the N’ga-Sebach started to file in.

  Food, wine, clothing, toys, all were put on a table laid out for the purpose, and every woman touched the baby’s hand or foot.

  One month later, the celebration was held to welcome Ninya Ahierra into the family.

  Cierra sat and had some tea while Sebach waltzed Ninya around the square.

  Her mother-in-law was sitting with her. “Don’t you worry about Sebach taking her?”

  Cierra shook her head. “No. There is nowhere that she could take her that I couldn’t find her, besides, we have an arrangement.”

  “I don’t understand why you allow her to get so close.”

  “When I was little, I was left at the hospital and handed around as a ward of the state. Unlike many in my position, I got out without being molested, but I never felt loved. I was cold, focused only on making myself secure. Then, I ended up on Xerat and tried to do the same thing. We all know how that turned out. Here is a new world, and I chose banishment over being rejected again. I know how it feels to have the little you can love and trust taken from you, and I know how much a little love fills a huge void.”

  Her mother-in-law blinked. “I didn’t know.”

  “It is hard to explain. Now that Ninya is in my life, I want her exposed to as much love as comes her way. You can never have too much, but you can have too little.”

  “How did you live without anyone to support you?”

  “I learned to support myself, and I insulated myself against those who would try and reduce my efforts to nothing. I earned one thing, and then, I earned the next. It was a slow progress, but it worked.”

  Evlynia Sapket was listening intently. She nodded and reached for Cierra’s hand. “Will you accept love from me?”

  Cierra smiled. “I will accept friendship. I make no pressure for folk to love me. I love and that is enough.”

  Ahket got the baby away from Sebach, and he was now dancing with her in the square.

  “What will you do next?”

  “Well, once we have a decent feed crop generated, I will make a list of animals that can survive on Sebach, with her help. In another year, there will be wildlife on the surface, though it may take some getting used to. Gaining an entire predator-prey population will be hard to manage.”

  “Somehow, I think you will manage just fine, daughter.” She squeezed Cierra’s hand, and they watched Sapya step in to grab the baby for his turn around the dance floor.

  “I suppose I will have to rescue her soon.”

  Ninya began to scream in endless wails.

  Laughing, Cierra went to retrieve the infant that quieted the moment she touched it. “Or she can save herself. Well done, Ninya.”

  The baby gurgled and raised her hands. The lights in the square went off and then came back on again.

  In baby talk, near Ninya’s ear, she whispered, “And we will deal with that, too.”

  Ahket came over and took his daughter again now that she was soothed, and the music continued long into the small hours.

  It was a great way to get a welcome into a community. Cierra just wished that control over electricity hadn’t been part of it. It was a bit of a buzz kill, but having a daughter with power was better than having her be worried about the larger, stronger N’ga-Sebach all her life.

  Cierra would call it a draw.

  Author’s Note

  Book went weird. No excuses. Sorry.

  Next time… Neutral.

  Thanks for reading,

  Viola Grace

  About the Author

  Viola Grace (aka Zenina Masters) is a Canadian sci-fi/paranormal romance writer with ambitions to keep writing for the rest of her life. She specializes in short stories because the thrill of discovery, of all those firsts, is what keeps her writing.

  An artist who enjoys a story that catches you up, whirls you around and sets you down with a smile on your face is all she endeavours to be. She prefers to leave the drama to those who are better suited to it, she always goes for the cheap laugh.

  Listening to readers has gotten her this far, and with her 300th short story looming before the end of 2014, she will continue to listen in the future.

 

 

 
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